Four Harare man and a woman who allegedly went on an armed robbery and raping spree for three days targeting Norton residents appeared at the Harare Magistrates’ Court last week facing 11 counts of armed robbery and six counts of rape.
The five suspects – Joseph Rice (33), George Laisi (21), Laston Chongo (26), Tawanda Nyakarenga (29) and Faina Siniri (22) were not asked to plead to the charges when they appeared before magistrate Estere Chivasa.
Prosecutor Michael Reza told the court that on June 26 this year, the suspected gang pounced on Peter Makarichi who is employed by the City of Harare and robbed him of property worth $50.
The following day, the suspects robbed another man of goods and cash valued at $95 and drove off in their stolen motor vehicle.
A few hours later, they pounced on Samuel Matumba and Robert Chombo who were at Katanga Shopping centre waiting for lifts to Knowe.
The accused allegedly offered them a lift and when they approached Knowe turn off along Zvimba Road, one of the suspects allegedly produced a knife and assaulted the pair before robbing them of goods worth $264.
The next day, they again robbed other residents of goods worth more than $1 500.
On June 28, the gang allegedly approached three family members whose vehicle had run out of fuel at Manyame Bridge along the Harare-Bulawayo Road pretending to be Good Samaritans.
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They allegedly lured two girls aged 18 and 21 years to disembark from their car, leaving their father behind. While outside, the suspects further lured the girls to move away from their father where they later gang-raped them.
The suspects were arrested last week at Kilworth Farm. They were remanded in custody to today for trial.
